happy medium then
jerry, everything you have said is true. I must echo your caution that it is risky business and no one should take any un-necessary chances with canning. it is at least as dangerous as sailing into a Gail! if you don't have the right equipment and know how to use it back words and forward it is suicide to try!!!!! that said it can be done safely for any one willing to learn and become proficient with the technology. The fundamentals are easy enough to understand but the biology and chemistry are unforgiving and errors are not found until it is far too late in most cases. That said there are enough benefits to it that it is worth investigating. I would never try to accomplish the work from on-board the boat as sterilization is imperative and un reliable from the boat, however I have borrowed the kitchens of more than one hotel with a industrial dishwasher in foreign ports to run off a few quarts of a local fruit for the small price of leaving a couple behind. and I do not mess with anything that I can get commercially, you won't catch me doing tuna (or chicken since it has came to be available) but I have done a Bit of sea bass and shark that I caught and knew was fresh. You can't always say that about what you find in a foreign market though. The same can be said of things like duck and deer, i prefer fresh but will can if I saw them alive and have the facilities and need for use in the short term. It is not a perfect solution but it did win the west and worked well for great grandma till the supermarket was invented. It should also be mentioned that even comercialy canned foods are dangerious to keep on a boat, rotate the stock frequently and at the first sign of spoilage throw it out! canning of any type only slows the spoilage, that is why there is a "use date" on the can, and the salt air and water and less than ideal storage of a boat do nothig to extend that date! (not to mention that the guy that asigned it had no idea what we were going to put the can though before we opened it) canning is worth looking at, if it fits...folow the directions to the letter!!!!... if not at least you learned a little about something new (or old as the case may be)